


Murder most foul

by Warflower



Series: Cain´s modern murder mysteries [3]
Category: Cain Saga and Godchild
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cain POV, Cain is not the best brother, Gen, M/M, Mentions of child abuse/epilepsy/murder and parasites, Murder Mystery, This story does not contain original characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 00:47:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10525401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warflower/pseuds/Warflower
Summary: Cain has gotten a taste for murder.Luckily there is more.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Beware describtions of parasites, otherwise concrit is welcome and have fun.

It wasn´t much. 

So far there had only been a couple of articles in local London newspapers, the only major one to pick up on it was the Daily Mail, the others to preoccupied with the disappearance and apparent suicide of socialite Violet Maria Taylor, and yet, three women were dead.

-So, you think this is not a coincidence? – Cleo asked. He and Cain lay stretched out on the living room floor in the attic, news clippings spread out in front of them. 

-No, three women dying of fatal seizures in little over a month? – Cain asked, he was propped up on an elbow and looked over at Cleo.

-The newspapers say they were epileptic. – Cleo pointed at one of the headlines Another Epileptic suffers from fatal seizure.

-Well epilepsy is almost never fatal and I know for a fact that Lindy here- Cain grabbed one of the clippings and handed it to Cleo -was not epileptic. –

\- You knew her? – Cleo questioned.

-We met at a party, acquaintance of an acquaintance, we barely talked- He was scowling, playing with some loose threads of the carpet.

Cleo sat up. -If you didn´t talk, then how would you know she wasn´t epileptic- 

-The lights- the thread snapped -There were stroboscopes, lots of flashes, someone with epilepsy would avoid that, wouldn´t they? – He clenches his fist -No, there´s something fishy. –

Cleo just nodded and wrapped his arms around his knees, pulling them close. Cleo was a quiet boy, shy but kind, listening intently to everything Cain has to say, including his recent obsession with mysterious deaths. 

He stole a glance at the clock, it was only half past three, Cleo didn´t have to be home until six, awfully early for an almost eighteen-year old. It was because of his brother, Cain knew, Cleo was afraid of displeasing him. 

He had told Cleo of Elizabeth and her step-mother, of Suzette and Mr. Ashton, he didn´t tell him of his father. 

There was someone coming up the stairs, more than just one person, Cain sat up as he turned around. 

Riff gave him a kind smile and opened his mouth to announce their visitor. 

-Hey Cain, what are you doing there, playing Sherlock Holmes? – Oscar chuckled at his own joke as he leaned over Cain to inspect the newspaper clippings.

-Leave that- Cain quickly collected the scraps and put them back in their folder, which he discretely pushed underneath the couch. -What are you doing here? –

Cain´s accusatory tone only widened Oscar´s grin further. 

-Oh, I missed you too. – Cain scowled at him. Only days after the party Oscar had shown up at their doorstep, demanding to be let in and treated like a friend of the family, how he had gotten their address Cain could only guess, it wasn´t as if he´d given the guy his phone number -I wanted to spend some time with my friend, what else? - 

-Charming your future bride for example- Cain’s voice was dry and a giggle escaped Cleo. -Actually, why don´t you, I was busy-

-Busy? – Now Oscar turned to eye Cleo -Who are you, you look familiar. – 

Cleo´s shoulders hunched. -Cleo Dreyfus-.

-Oh, you´re Orlando´s brother, we go out drinking from time to time! – 

Cleo swallowed, eyes fixed firmly at his feet, sometimes Cain would love to poison his prick of a brother. 

Fortunately, Oscar seemed to have caught onto Cleo´s discomfort. Awkwardly he added -I don´t care for his company much, he´s kind of a jerk- 

That coaxed a small smile out of Cleo and pacified Cain. 

-Anyways, - he continued -Merry isn´t home-

Cain raised his eyebrows.

-She is spending the afternoon over at Lord Benjamin´s house, - Riff supplied -Drew invited her over. –

-Drew? –

-Lord Benjamin´s daughter- Slowly Cain nodded, not recalling the girl in question.

-Well well, what a good brother you are- Oscar shook his head dramatically -not even knowing your dear sister´s friends. - 

That was plenty enough of Oscar´s idiocy. Cain heaved himself to his feet helping Cleo along. -Come on, we´re visiting my sister. -

 

Lord Benjamin´s townhouse was just down the road and Cain and his friends were quickly shown to the conservatory by a servant, where Merry and Drew were having tea.

Contrary to Cain´s expectation Drew was not a girl Merry´s age but a young woman a little older than Cain himself. 

She was curvy and plump, with red hair that she neatly braided back, her ruddy skin was covered in freckles and she was wearing glasses. 

-Hello, - he announced their presence. -May we join you? –

-Um…- She was clearly surprised at their presence, and mildly uncomfortable if her blush and her stammering was anything to go by -Yes, sure, sit down, - she gesticulated to some free chairs surrounding the wrought iron table -join us.-

They did as instructed, and soon helped themselves to some delicious looking black forest cherry- cupcakes. 

-These are fantastic- Oscar judged after stuffing most of one into his mouth, Cleo too hummed his assent, his good manners preventing him from speaking while chewing. 

-You really should try some- he suggested after swallowing. Cain declined, smiling. Both Cleo and Merry knew about Cain´s peculiar eating habits, the former just occasionally forgot about it. 

-Well, sucks to be you then- Oscar was already going in for seconds, -If the way to a man´s heart is through his stomach then whoever made these has already won me half-way over-

Drew ducked her head. When she did it the motion was adorably awkward.

-Wait, you made these- Oscar realised.

She stuttered her assent, -Y…yes- 

-A lord´s daughter who bakes? What a lovely surprise- Oscar exclaimed, grinning, then he took on a flirty tone -Almost as lovely as you, milady-. He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. 

-Did you know my father is a baron? – 

Drew was wide eyed and at a loss for words. It seemed she was not used to this kind of attention. 

-Did you know he is disinherited? – Merry cut in, levelling an impressive scowl in Oscars direction. -It seems his father was not too fond of his womanizing. – 

This had Cain chuckling, leave it to Merry to call out Oscar´s bullshit.

Said disinherited son-of-a-baron dropped Drew´s hand instantly.

-Is my Merry jealous? – He turned to Merry -Don´t worry my love, I assure you, she is not half as beautiful as you. – 

This was evidently the wrong thing to say as Merry´s eyebrows furrowed in anger. She rose to her full height and used her standing position to tower over Oscar, glowering down at him. 

After a long moment, she turned and gripped Drew by the wrist. -Come on Drew- she said -We don´t need these idiots-. She stormed of, Drew dragged behind her while the boy´s remained seated, speechless. 

 

-Merry…- Cain nudged his sister´s foot under the table. They were back at the townhouse, Oscar and Cleo had gone home hours ago, by now it was time for dinner -I know Oscar is a jerk but I always thought you didn´t like his attention. If you didn´t want him to flirt with Drew why were you so angry when he stopped? –

-You don´t understand- she blew some bubbles into her milk, their uncle was out on a business dinner, so they were eating with Riff who, just like Cain, couldn´t reprimand Merry for anything -I wouldn´t mind if it were anyone else he was flirting with, or if he was serious- 

She gesticulated with her knife -But it´s Drew, she´s insecure as it is, he shouldn´t toy with her feelings, and when he just dropped her like that…-

-Yeah, that was a dick move- Cain agreed. -Even I realised she was insecure, but why? She seems nice, her father is filthy rich and apparently, she makes some mean cupcakes… -

-She doesn´t think she´s pretty, though- Merry pointed out, as if it was obvious.

Cain´s brows pulled together. Sure, Drew was more heavy-set than most girls and her glasses gave her something nerdy, but she had fine long hair, her face had a nice structure and to be honest, her full breasts had not gone without his notice.

He must have remained quiet for too long as his sister felt the need to clarify.

-For a woman, beauty is very important, at least in her social life. It decides who are your friends and if you find a man. If you are not pretty it´s easy to end up alone. And with her father being a lord, Drew is always alone. – 

-But shouldn´t that be an advantage? – Cain asked.

-Not exactly- Riff spoke up -It means that there are only a small number of others that share her social position. And if she doesn´t fit in with those few, which she doesn´t it´s easy to end up alone-

Cain contemplated this.

-Look at Cleo- Merry added -he´s quiet and bookish, not at all like Oscar and the others his age, a big reason for why you became close friends so quickly is that he hasn´t got any other friends- 

Riff gave her an approving smile, he was right Cain thought, Merry was quite perspective.

-Is there anything that can be done about that, though? – He asked.

-She´s planning on seeing a plastic surgeon about her weight- Merry confided, Cain´s eyebrows rose -her friend Karen recommended him, a doctor Harrison- 

-Harrison? I heard that name before- But where, Cain wondered. 

-Does she really consider it necessary? – Riff inquired -She´s still so young, if she wants to lose weight so badly, I bet some sport and a healthy diet would work just as well- 

-She tried that already- Merry was kicking her feet under the table -I´d didn´t work as well as she would have liked. Anyways she has an appointment tomorrow and I offered to accompany her. May I brother? – She turned her puppy eyes on him -Riff? –

Cain smiled at her -I see no reason why not- he ruffled her hair, it was impossible not to indulge Merry. 

 

-Do you understand it? This need to fit certain standards? – They were sitting on the couch, Cain nestled in Riff´s side. An old noir-film was playing, Cain had insisted on it. 

-Certain standards? – Riff asked. -Aren´t you a tad hypocritical there? –

-What do you mean? – Cain looked up at his human pillow, discreetly trying to further lie himself over Riff´s chest.

-I mean, when you go out, the girls you are with, don´t you choose them based on their appearance? –

-Kind of, - Cain shrugged –Mostly I wait to see who´s interested and choose based on that –

-Would you choose a girl who looks like Drew? – 

-I don´t know- Cain had to admit, he hated the way Riff talked about his flings, like they were of no interest to him. Could the man be at least a little jealous?

-But a plastic surgeon, really? I mean I once met a woman who had gotten her nose done… wait-

Quickly Cain pushed himself up. -That´s where I heart the name. Lindy, the dead woman, she told me she´d just gotten her nose done. – 

-So? – Riff leaned forward, regarding Cain.

-So, if she was a patient of Dr. Harrison´s, he´ll have her medical records. I could check whether she had anything that could lead to seizures. – 

Riff only sighted, he knew there was no stopping Cain when he had made up his mind. 

-If Drew invited Merry to accompany her, I´ll just have to tag along and have a look around- he smiled -I´m really starting to like this. –

 

Dr. Harrison´s practice was in Harley Street, that alone gave Cain the feeling of starring in a Victorian murder mystery, he loved it. 

He held the door open for Merry and Drew and entered after them. They were relegated to a waiting area by a secretary, the walls hung with pictures of beautiful people that certainly weren´t born that way. 

After a good ten minutes a busty blonde with an obvious fake tan exited the consulting room and Drew was called in. 

Merry gave her a hug of encouragement and Cain too wished her good luck. 

Since Drew was out of the way now Cain turned to Merry. -Can you do me a favour? –

-What kind of favour? – Merry started bouncing on her chair, obviously exited what adventures her brother would pull her into this time.

-Can you distract the secretary for me? Just talk to her, I need to take a look at the records. –

She nodded enthusiastically, rose from her chair and bounced up to the secretary. 

-What kind of operations can the doctor do? – Cain heard her ask and before long the woman was busy explaining to Merry just what had been done on the models of every photograph. 

Seeing his chance Cain slipped past them, but instead of continuing down the hall to the men´s room he slunk through the door reading private. As expected he found a kitchen, and behind that a room filled with filing cabinets.

Thank god, he remembered Lindy´s surname, otherwise he would have wasted hours searching for her file. 

Holding her file in question he scanned it for information on chronic diseases or allergies, as he expected there was nothing. 

On a whim, he searched for files of the other supposed victims too, on the second there was nothing, but on the first there was. She´d had a breast enlargement done about a year ago, but more importantly she didn´t have anything that could have led to seizures, either. 

After taking pictures of both files with his phone Cain put them back into their cabinets Cain returned to the waiting room. The secretary was showing Merry some graphics on how certain operations were done and she listened intently. 

After another fifteen minutes Drew was shown out by a dark-haired man in his mid-thirties. Happily, she waved at Cain, who gripped their coats, collected Merry from the front desk and followed Drew outside.

-And how did it go? – Merry asked.

-Great- Drew replied -Dr. Harrison gave me some pills, he said if I take them regularly, I wouldn´t need surgery, I´ve taken the first one already-

-That´s great- Cain gave his half-hearted assent.

Merry of course was way more enthusiastic -Yes, I am so happy for you-.

At the crossing which lead to the Bond street tube station Cain excused himself.

-I´m really sorry, I know we planned to walk back through Hyde Park, but something urgent came up and I have to go home- 

Drew was obviously disappointed, but with some encouragement from Merry the agreed that they didn´t need Cain for their trip to the park, Merry even got her to promise to look for hot chocolate if they got too cold. Smiling Cain hurried to the station.

 

-Riff- Cain found the man downstairs in the kitchen preparing his uncle´s afternoon tea. -Riff, I found something, they weren´t sick, the women- He caught his breath -I have proof. –

-Do you? – Riff placed sandwiches he had been preparing on the counter -So what are you planning to do with it? –

-We´re going to the police, obviously- Cain gripped Riff´s wrist and pulled him after him, ignoring the feeble protests about having work to do, if Riff didn´t want to come along he wouldn´t, there was no way Cain could make a man Riff´s size do anything he didn´t want. 

The way wasn´t far and before long they stood in front of Belgravia police station.

Telling the woman at the front desk they had clues concerning several murders that were not being investigated got them up to the desk of an exasperated looking Detective Constable.

-So, you illegally procured documents proving a connection between two, not all three of the dead women, which further indicate that they were not epileptic. – DC Burgess stated.

-Look, the legality of how I got the information is secondary, this proves that someone is killing these women- 

-The fact that two women, who have at the time they solicited this surgeon were not epileptic died of seizures is not conclusive proof of a serial killer being on the loose- Cain harrumphed -There are other reasons that can cause seizures than epilepsy. Anyways, how would someone go about causing fatal seizures- 

-Poison- Cain suggested. 

Ever helpful, Riff added -As far as I know there weren´t any autopsy´s as all three cases were ruled natural deaths, of course there are poisons that wouldn´t show up in an autopsy either, but plenty of others would- 

-All we ask is, that if another one dies, there´ll be an autopsy- Cain finished. 

All Burgess said was -We will have to see, it´s uncertain if another dies at all. -

-Well, that went well- Cain commented hooking his arm under Riff´s.

Another woman died one week later. 

It was Karen, Drew´s fried who had recommended the surgeon. Cain was informed by Detective Inspector Landor. There was supposed to be an autopsy.

That night the corpse disappeared from the morgue. 

Alarmed DCI Landor ordered the exhuming of the other corpses, to no effect, as all coffins were empty. 

Cain followed the proceedings via newspaper and bird-glass, to everyone´s amusement. 

 

Drew had lost weight. More than grief for her friend could explain, although that likely played a role, her skin had turned pale, too, her freckles losing their vibrancy. 

Riff had led her into the sitting room, where Cain had invited her for tea. Merry was out with their uncle, shopping for another frilly dress.

-How are you? – He asked.

-Fine- She obviously wasn´t, the dark circles under her eyes told as much. -It´s not as if Karen was my best friend or something-

-Still, she was your friend- Cain kept his voice soft -And I know it is better not to grieve alone-.

Shyly Drew looked up -Ah, you lost your mother when you were seven, right? – 

Cain nodded, confirming the story, the loss of his step mother was convenient that way, and back then he had, indeed, grieved alone. 

He offered her some chocolate cake, sweet and just the tiniest bit bitter.

-Riff made these, chocolate to make you feel better- 

-Thanks, - she smiled. The pallor suited her, if not for the circles under her eyes she would be beautiful.

-The pills are working, - Cain commented -you look good-

-Yes, I know- she was visibly relieved about the change of topic -The doctor said I only need one per day, but I take them with every meal- 

At the reminder, she began to search her purse.

-Aren´t you worried about side effects though? – Cain asked.

-Dr. Harrison said there weren´t any. - She had found her bottle of pills and tried to shake one into her hand, apparently, she miscalculated as half a dozen pills fell into her hand and lap. Quickly she recollected them.

-God I am such a klutz – 

-You aren´t, you are a little clumsy, but that´s part of your charm – Cain smiled.

She looked at him with big eyes, a faint blush dusting her cheeks -Really? -.

Fuck, Cain thought, she likes me. What wouldn’t he give to sleep with a beautiful girl again, his uncle had proven adamant when it came to going out, and Drew was cute, but she liked Cain and he had promised himself to never purposefully toy with another´s feelings. 

-Yes. Do you know what Merry did yesterday? – From then on, they spent the afternoon with idle chitchat, nothing shared that could lead to overt emotional attachment, it was nice.

 

It was ten days until the next corpse dropped and this time they had come prepared. Bundled up in their warmest coats Cain and Riff sat in a doorway right across from the morgue. The night was cold and windy and it had started to Snow. 

Cain used the excuse to wrap Riffs arm around his shoulders, trying to catch as much of Riff´s warmth as he could. Unfortunately, they were waiting for the killer, so heartfelt conversations were impossible. Pity, thought Cain, another thing that would be better had they just rented a car.

It was four in the morning, Cain had dozed of twice and Riff once, when they saw movement across from the parking lot. There was movement in the morgues open window, since when was the window open? 

The killer must have slipped inside when they were sleeping. Then something was heaved out of the window and soon the body bag dropped onto the pavement. A slim figure followed, a woman, obviously, masked and dressed in black. 

Cain rose to confront her while Riff pulled out his phone, calling the police. But before Cain made it even halfway across the parking lot a black Ford Focus pulled up. Quickly the woman heaved the corpse into the car´s trunk and jumped in herself. 

On the way out of the parking lot the car passed Cain but the only glimpse he could get of the driver was that they had long ash-blond hair.

 

The police again was spectacularly unhelpful, at least this time Cain got to talk with DCI Landor himself instead of his lapdog Burgess. 

Landor agreed that either the masked woman or the driver where likely the murderer. How exactly they killed women by inducing seizures he did not know, but he promised to investigate Dr. Harrison, as three of four victims had been his patients, maybe he was an accomplice.

The fact that there was at least one accomplice, as there had been two of them was worrying, the car, too could not be traced as it had no plates and Ford Focuses were only the most common cars in the United Kingdom. 

In the early hours of the morning, well before dawn Cain and Riff returned home, exhausted.

They were awaited by Merry-Weather who looked quite displeased.

-Where were you? – She asked. 

-Just taking a walk- Cain tried.

-Liar- of cause Merry called him out.

-We were at the police station- Riff crouched down to explain -we wanted to help them find out what happened to Drew´s friend Karen-

Merry nodded, then she turned to Cain. 

-I know you want to solve this, Cain. I know you. Don´t you think it would be easier to just talk to me, instead of sending me off to the park or shopping or what-not. I see you´re behaving odd, Drew´s behaving odd, too. Stop trying to hide stuff from me! – 

Cain smiled, his sister was truly adorable, and seeing her worried for him was just touching. 

-I´m sorry Merry, I won´t do it again. And I´ll buy you a Teddy bear to make it up to you, promise? – 

-Fine, promise- her arms were still crossed, her eyes still distrustful but no longer angry. 

Riff, who had already divested himself of coat, hat and scarf came back and offered to make breakfast for the three of them.

Cain and Merry readily agreed.

 

Cain soon found out what his sister meant, when she said, that Drew was behaving oddly.

She had lost even more weight, and was pale as a porcelain doll. She was also moody, irritable and clumsier than ever. 

Upon inquiry from Cain she confided that she suffered from headaches but played it off as nothing, after all she got to be skinny, and skinny girls were beautiful.

When he noticed a tremor in her hand Cain had enough, he called the doctor and made an appointment. 

In the end, Drew came along willingly. She too had noticed that the pills were not good for her, but had kept taking them nonetheless, partly probably out of spite for Cain who kept telling her to quit them. Cain, well acquainted with spite understood the sentiment. 

Again, they waited in the waiting room in Harley street and again Drew was called in by the doctor, again she went in. She didn´t come out again, not conscious at least.

There was a thud inside the doctor´s office. Moments later Dr. Harrison came hurried out, grapping the phone from his secretary and calling an ambulance. Apparently Drew had had a major seizure. 

He hurried back to Drew, followed by Cain and his secretary. Drew sprawled on the floor, shaking. Her eyes were unseeing, her skin now ghostly white and sweaty. Even though she was insensate Cain held her hand.

It felt like hours until the paramedics arrived, though it must have been minutes at most, they were in Harley street after all, they gave her an injection to stop the seizures than they strapped her to a stretcher and carried her out to their ambulance the doctor and secretary accompanied them.

Cain picked up his phone as he watched them.

During their last conversation, he had gotten DCI Landor´s number and he called it now.

-Hello, it´s Cain Hargreaves, there´s another one- He said, feeling numb.

He explained how Drew had collapsed at the doctor´s and that she was well on her way to the nearest hospital. Landor assured him that he would send some of his men to protect her.

Waiting for DC Burgess, Cain retreated into the back-room with the filing cabinets, he needed to do something, be active, otherwise he might go insane. He didn´t expect Drew to make it. 

He was working his way through the files when Burgess joined him, not those of the patients this time but those of the suppliers.

At a Dr. Gene Sweeney he stopped short. The pharmacist apparently supplied the Dr. Harrison with pills for weight loss. What had drawn Cain´s eye was a photograph of the man, fairly young, in his mid-twenties, bespectacled with long ash-blond hair that was pulled back into a loose ponytail. He was, without a doubt, the driver from the other night.

Handing the file to Burgess he took a closer look at the description of the pills. His brows furrowed, several of the components were unknown to him. Cain had a head for medicine, almost as much as for poisons, (the lines between the two blurred after all,) so it was likely that said components were either rare and new or, as Cain suspected, made up. 

This, too he told Burgess who searched for the pills in question and eventually took a sample to the lab.

 

The next twenty-four hours were among the longer one´s in Cain´s life, not the longest, his life was too screwed up for that. 

As expected Drew did not make it, she died in surgery. When they opened her up the doctors where horrified, or so he heard, as her intestines were filled with tape worms. Adult ones, not larvae.

The lab confirmed what was obvious. The pills had contained newly adult pork tapeworms that lived of the food their host ingested, leading to anaemia and emaciation. Their sheer number had caused fissures in the walls of her intestines and once the worms were in her blood they affected the brain and caused the seizures.

While Cain returned home to Riff, spending the night firmly platonic in the latter’s bed, wrapped in strong arms, safely protected from all the bad things in the world, the police who had been deployed to guard Drew´s corpse arrested the masked woman. 

It was Violet Maria Taylor, usually just called Viola.

After her fiancé had left her for her younger, more beautiful and confident sister she had tried to attack her with hydrochloric acid, but in the struggle, she had only disfigured herself.

When she disappeared afterwards it was generally assumed that she had killed herself. The assumption had proven false. 

Believing her account, she had met a man, a certain Dr. Gene Sweeney, who loved her as she was but was willing to help her become beautiful for him.

He showed her the articles he was proofreading for a scientific journal, which supposedly proved that epileptic seizures released a substance into the bloodstream which made epileptic people beautiful, he had even shown her people suffering from epilepsy and he had been right, they were all beautiful. 

As the substance was of highest concentration when a person died of a seizure, she had agreed to steal the corpses of such epilepsy victims. 

Her doctor then had extracted the substance from the corpses blood and produced pills from it, for her to take. 

The pills she showed the officers as proof were the same pills that had killed six women. She was immediately taken to the nearest hospital.

In her case the worms had not entered the blood stream and could be removed via surgery. There were ten other women who were similarly lucky, all former patients of Dr. Harrison.

The doctor of course lost his license, while Viola was locked up in a mental hospital. Gene Sweeney got away.

 

-And Drew will get better? – His sister asked Cain as they took a walk through the frost covered Hyde Park.

-Yes- Cain assured her, smiling -she´s staying with relatives in France, down by the Mediterranean Sea, it´s warmer there, so she will heal faster. – 

-Will she come back? – Merry took his hand.

-I don´t know, maybe she meets a nice boy and decides to stay permanently-

-That would be nice- Merry agreed.

-Yes, it would- Hand in hand they turned homewards.


End file.
